Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T18:17:44.521Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Bravest of the Brave’: Representations of ‘The Gurkha’ in British Military Writings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Lionel Caplan
Lionel Caplan
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The legendary Gurkhas have inspired a considerable literature about their character, quality and exploits under British command. Some years ago, after I returned from fieldwork in an area of east Nepal inhabited by the Limbu people, many of whom had served in Gurkha regiments, I began to read some of this literature for background purposes. It struck me then, although not nearly so forcibly as it did later when I had read Edward Said (1978), and returned to the Gurkha material after a long absence, that these writings have a very distinctive character, constituting a particular mode of ‘orientalist’ discourse.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , July 1991 , pp. 571 - 597
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, N. J. ‘Approaches to Illness in the Nepalese Hills’. In Social Anthropology and Medicine (ed.) Loudon, J. B.. London: Academic, 1976.Google Scholar
Anderson, B.Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983.Google Scholar
Anon. Military Sketches of the Gorkha War, in India, in the Years 1814, 1815, 1816. London: R. Hunter, 1822.Google Scholar
Anon. On the Deficiency of European Officers in the Army of India. By One of Themselves. London: James Madden, 1849.Google Scholar
Bishop, E.Better to Die; The Story of the Gurkhas. London: New English Library, 1976.Google Scholar
Blaikie, P., Cameron, J. and Seddon, D.. Nepal in Crisis: Growth and Stagnation at the Periphery. Oxford: Clarendon, 1980.Google Scholar
Bolt, D.Gurkhas. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967.Google Scholar
Bristow, R. C. B.Memories of the British Raj: A Soldier in India. London: Johnson, 1974.Google Scholar
Burghart, R. ‘The Formation of the Concept of Nation-State in Nepal’, Journal of Asian Studies, XLIV, 1984, pp. 101–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caplan, L.Land and Social Change in East Nepal. London: Routledge, 1970.Google Scholar
Cardew, F. G. ‘Our Recruiting Grounds of the Future for the Indian Army’, The Journal of the United Service Institution of India, XX, 86, 1891, pp. 131–56.Google Scholar
‘Carnaticus, ’ (pseud.) ‘General view of our Indian Army’, The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register, XI, 65, 1821, pp. 429–39.Google Scholar
Chant, C.Gurkha: The Illustrated History of an Elite Fighting Force. Poole: Blandford, 1985.Google Scholar
Chaudhuri, K. C.Anglo–Nepalese Relations: From the Earliest Times of the British Rule in India till the Gurkha War, Calcutta: Modern Book Agency, 1960.Google Scholar
Clifford, J. Review of Said's Orientalism. In History and Theory, 19, 1980, pp. 204–23.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. P.The Indian Army: Its Contribution to the Development of a Nation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Crapanzano, V.Tuhami: Portrait of a Moroccan. Chicago: University Press, 1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, J. P. Review of B. Farwell, The Gurkhas. In Strategic Studies, 3, 1985, pp. 168–75.Google Scholar
Cross, J. P.In Gurkha Company: The British Army Gurkhas, 1948 to the Present. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. H. ‘Nepal and the Brigade of Gurkhas’, Royal Engineers Journal, V, 93, 1979, pp. 220–30.Google Scholar
Enloe, C. H.Ethnic Soldiers: State Security in Divided Societies. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980.Google Scholar
Farwell, B.The Gurkhas. London: Allen Lane, 1984.Google Scholar
Forbes, D.Johnny Gurkha. London: Robert Hale, 1964.Google Scholar
Fraser, J. B.Journal of a Tour through Part of the Snowy Range of the Himala Mountains and to the Sources of the Rivers Jumna and Ganges. London: Rodwell and Martin, Bond–Street, 1820.Google Scholar
Hasrat, B. J.History of Nepal: As Told by its Own and Contemporary Chroniclers. Hoshiarpur, Punjab: the Editor, 1970.Google Scholar
Henry, W.Events of a Military Life: Being Recollections after Service in the Peninsular war, Invasion of France, the East Indies, St Helena, Canada and Elsewhere. London: William Pickering, 1843.Google Scholar
Hitchcock, J.The Magars of Banyan Hill. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1966.Google Scholar
Hodgson, B. H. ‘Origin and Classification of the Military Tribes of Nepal’, Jnl of the Asiatic Society, 17, 1833, pp. 217–24.Google Scholar
House of Commons, Defence Committee. First Report, The Future of the Bridage of Gurkhas. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1989.Google Scholar
Husain, A.British India's Relations with the Kingdom of Nepal 1857–1947. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1970.Google Scholar
Hutt, M. ‘A hero or a traitor? The Gurkha Soldier in Nepali Literature’, South Asia Research, 9, 1989, pp. 21–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inden, R. ‘Orientalist Constructions of India’, Modern Asian Studies, 20, 3, 1986, pp. 401–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, H. and Sheil-Small, D.The Gurkhas. London: Macdonald, 1965.Google Scholar
Jenkins L., Hadow. General Frederick Young. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1923.Google Scholar
Landon, P.Nepal (2 vols). London: Constable, 1928.Google Scholar
Leonard, R. G. (for the Ministry of Defence), Nepal and the Gurkhas. London: Her Majestry's Stationery Office, 1965.Google Scholar
Macfarlane, A.Resources and Population: A Study of the Gurungs of Nepal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
MacMunn, G.The Martial Races of India. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1932.Google Scholar
MacMunn, G. and Lovett, A. C.. The Armies of India. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1911.Google Scholar
Mani, L. ‘Notes on Colonial Discourse’, Inscriptions, 2, 1986, pp. 3–4.Google Scholar
Mani, L. and Frankenberg, R.. The Challenge of Orientalism', Economy and Society, 14, 1985, pp. 174–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, P.A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, its Officers and Men. London, Jonathan Cape, 1974.Google Scholar
Mojumdar, K.Anglo–Nepalese Relations in the Nineteenth Century. Calcutta: K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1973.Google Scholar
Morris, J.Hired to Kill: Some Chapters of Autobiography. London: Rupert Hart–Davies, Cresset Press, 1960.Google Scholar
Muni, S. D.Foreign Policy of Nepal. Delhi: National Publishing House, 1973.Google Scholar
Northey, W. B.The Land of the Gurkhas or The Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. Cambridge: Hefer & Sons, 1938.Google Scholar
Northey, W. B. and Morris, C. J.. The Gurkhas: Their Manners, Customs and Country. London: John Lane The Bodley Head, 1928.Google Scholar
Oldfield, H. A.Sketches from Nepal: Historical and Descriptive with an Essay on Nepalese Buddhism and Illustrations of Religious Monuments and Architecture. Delhi: Cosmo Publications, 1974 (originally published in 1880).Google Scholar
Padel, F. ‘Anthropologists of Tribal India: Merchants of Knowledge’, (unpublished conference paper), 1988.Google Scholar
Parry, B.Delusions and Discoveries: Studies on India in the British Imagination 1880–1930. London: Allen Lane Penguin, 1972.Google Scholar
Pearse, H. ‘The Goorkha Soldier (as an enemy and as a friend)’, Macmillan's Magazine, LXXVIII, 07, 1898, pp. 225–37.Google Scholar
Pemble, J.The Invasion of Nepal: John Company at War. Clarendon, 1971.Google Scholar
Praval, K. C.Indian Army after Independence. New Delhi: Lancer International 1987.Google Scholar
Prinsep, H. T.History of the Political and Military Transactions in India during the Administration of the Marquess of Hastings 1813–1823 (2 vols). London, 1825.Google Scholar
Proudfoot, C. L.Flash of the Khukri: History of the 3rd Gorkha Rifles (1947 to 1980). New Delhi: Vision Books, 1984.Google Scholar
Rabinow, P. ‘Representations are Social Facts: Modernity and Post–modernity in Anthropology’. In J., Clifford and Marcus, G. (eds), Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Ramakant Indo–Nepalese Relaions: 1816 to 1877. Delhi: S. Chand, 1968.Google Scholar
Rana, N. R. L.The Anglo–Gorkha War (1814–1816). Kathmandu: the Author, 1970.Google Scholar
Razzell, P. E. ‘Social Origins of Officers in the Indian and British Home Army: 1758–1962’, British Journal of Sociology, 14, 1963, pp. 248–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ridley, H.Images of Imperial Rule. London: Croom Helm, 1983.Google Scholar
Rosaldo, R. ‘From the Door of his Tent: The Fieldworker and the Inquisitor’. In J., Clifford and Marcus, G. (eds), Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Rose, L. E. ‘China and the Anglo–Nepal War: 1814–1816’, Proceedings of the 24th Indian History Conference, 1961.Google Scholar
Said, E.Orientalism. London: Routledge, 1978.Google Scholar
Sanwal, B. D.Nepal and the East India Company. New York: Asia, 1965.Google Scholar
Sheil-Small, D.Green Shadows: A Gurkha Story. London: William Kimber, 1982.Google Scholar
Smith, E. D.Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas. London: Leo Cooper, 1973.Google Scholar
Smith, E. D.Even the Brave Falter. London: Robert Hale, 1978.Google Scholar
Smith, T.Narrative of a Five Years' Residence at Nepaul (2 vols). London: Colburn, 1852.Google Scholar
Spaight, W. J. M. ‘The name “Gurkha” ’, Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society, xxviii, 1941.Google Scholar
Stiller, L. F.The Rise of the House of Gorkha. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, 1973.Google Scholar
Stiller, L. F.The Silent Cry: The People of Nepal 1816–1839. Kathmandu: Sahayogi Prakashan, 1976.Google Scholar
Street, B.The Savage in Literature: Representations of ‘Primitive’ Society in English Fiction 1858–1920. London: Routledge, 1975.Google Scholar
Temple, R.Journals kept in Hyderabad, Kashmir, Sikkim, and Nepal (2 vols). London: W. H. Allen, 1887.Google Scholar
Turker, F.While Memory Serves. London: Cassell, 1950.Google Scholar
Turker, F.Gorkha: The Story of the Gurkhas of Nepal. London: Constable, 1957.Google Scholar
Turner, R. L.Nepali Dictionary, Comparative and Etymological. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1931.Google Scholar
Vansittart, E.Gurkhas: Handbooks for the Indian Army. Calcutta: Govt of India, 1915.Google Scholar
Woodyatt, N.Under Ten Viceroys: The Reminiscences of a Gurkha. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1922.Google Scholar